DETROIT (AP) -- Joe Dumars, a steady presence on two NBA championship teams during a 14-year career with the Detroit Pistons, has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, a basketball official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The official, who had knowledge of the decision, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement was scheduled for Monday.

Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma also was elected to the hall in his first year of eligibility, according to a basketball official with firsthand knowledge of the voting process. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that former Hawks star Dominique Wilkins will also be inducted.

Dumars, elected in his second year of eligibility, won two NBA championships as a shooting guard with the Pistons, and another title in 2004 as their president of basketball operations. He was MVP of the 1989 NBA Finals, and helped Detroit repeat the following season.

Dumars averaged 16.1 points and 4.5 assists and was an All-Star six times during an eight-year stretch in the 1990s. He was first-team all-defense four times. In 1996, he won the NBA's first sportsmanship award and its trophy was later named for him.

The 18th pick overall out of McNeese State came to the Pistons as skinny, unknown shooting guard in 1985, and became a humble star known as "Joe D."

Dumars became Detroit's vice president of player personnel in 1999 and took over as president of basketball operations a year later.

He started to build a championship-caliber team by trading Grant Hill, who wanted to leave, to Orlando for Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins. He later traded for Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton, signed Chauncey Billups, drafted Tayshaun Prince and put them together with Wallace to create perhaps the league's best starting lineup.

The Pistons are an NBA-best 58-14, their fifth straight year with 50-plus victories, and they will break the franchise record for wins if they are better than .500 over the final 10 games. Detroit has advanced to the finals the past two seasons and the Eastern Conference finals the previous three years.

Since arriving 21 years ago, Auriemma has turned Connecticut from a small regional program into a national powerhouse led the Huskies to five NCAA titles. Their five straight trips to the Final Four from 2000-04 is a record.

It's just one more big honor for Auriemma this year. He will be inducted into the women's Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., later this month.

Auriemma's September induction in Springfield marks the second consecutive honor for the school. Men's coach Jim Calhoun, winner of two NCAA titles, was enshrined in 2005.

Other finalists are: Charles Barkley, selected in 1996 as one the NBA's 50 greatest players; Adrian Dantley, whose 23,177 career points rank 18th in NBA history; three-time national college Player of the Year Ralph Sampson; Big East founder Dave Gavitt; former Purdue coach Gene Keady; college basketball TV analyst Dick Vitale; seven-time NBA all-star Chet Walker; Dallas GM and coach Don Nelson, a former player who is under consideration as a coach; Van Chancellor, who coached the Houston Comets to four straight WNBA titles; former Spanish coach Pedro Ferrandiz; Sandro Gamba, a former Italian star player and coach; John Isaacs, who played for the first all-black National Basketball League team in 1949; and the late Ben Kerner, who owned the St. Louis Hawks.

This year's Hall of Fame class will be enshrined Sept. 9 in Springfield, Mass.

Congratulations Joe D. This should have happened for you last year. At least a few Bozo's got it right this year.

April 2nd, 2006, 9:08 am

TADOne

Play by Play Announcer - Al Michaels

Joined: April 27th, 2005, 3:26 pmPosts: 1776

Couldn't happen to a better, more deserving individual. Congrats Joe, you have earned this.

_________________Regards,

Tim

April 3rd, 2006, 2:01 pm

DMorgan

Div 1 - Starter

Joined: January 10th, 2006, 6:08 pmPosts: 531

I've been a Dumars fan for a looong time now, as a player and GM. nobody deserves it more than him.

Definitely deserves it, IMO. If Jordan calls you one of the top two hardest defenders he has every faced, and Barkley calls you best player on a team that won two championships, and you have assembled what is considered by many one of the best starting fives in history without breaking the bank, you should be a shoo-in.

_________________"If he isn't the best football player, the best runner, that the Lord has ever made, then the Lord has yet to make one." Wayne Fontes on Barry.